Locavore Brunch

On Thursday our class met at the dairy lane pavilion and ate local dishes that our groups made. There was a lot of good food there, and i tried things i've never had before like vegan cookies. It was nice to support the local community and talk about where our ingredients came from. We also talked about some of our past field trips as a class to wrap up our last day of class.This brunch was a nice end to the quarter, and i really enjoyed all of the speakers and field trips throughout the quarter.

Holter's Holstein Farm

On Tuesday our class toured the Holter's Holstein dairy farm. The tour was led by the farmer's daughter, who is the third generation of dairy farmers. We started out in the main office and learned about the technology involved in keeping track of their many cows. We toured the calves area first and actually saw a one week old calf. We then toured the old barn property, and finally the milking room. There is a lot of food safety procedures used to ensure safe milk handling. The milking room follows HACCP guidelines.The milk holding tank is constantly monitored for temperature and sanitation. The milk is tested for bacteria and the nutritional breakdown of the milk is also analyzed. The farmers are paid for their sold milk. They actually get a bonus if their milk is higher in fat. As a dietetics professional i think it would be interesting to learn more about animal nutrition and the milking process. If an RD is interested in working in the dairy business they could help with the process and also work in milk advertising or promotion with the National Dairy Council.

National Dairy Council

On Thursday Karen Bakies, the nutrition affairs director for the American Dairy Association Mideast, came to talk with our class. She is a registered dietitian and gives many nutrition education talks to various groups. The National Dairy Council provides timely, scientific-based nutrition information to the media, physicians, dietitians, nurses, educators, consumers and others concerned about fostering a healthy lifestyle. They also administer grants to independent researchers to aid in discovery of new information about dairy foods and their important role in a healthy lifestyle. They are funded by dairy farmers, who give $0.15 for each 100lb of milk produced. There are 31,000 dairy farmers in Ohio with 83 average cows per farm. Karen talked to us about the dairy business, but also talked a lot about good communication. She gave our class many tips on understanding and engaging your audience when giving a speech. She was a very good speaker because of her knowledge of communication. The role of a nutrition professional is important in the dairy industry because it is important to educate individuals about the nutrition of dairy products and the new research that is being discovered.

Needs Assessment

On Tuesday my group met and we worked on our needs analysis for adults in Athens county with hypertension using the DASH diet. For the past 8 weeks we have been passing around our needs assessment workbook, and splitting up the work. We have already made a handout pertaining to DASH as well as a vegetable handout, so we started working on the final write up. We worked well together by taking turns typing and looking up research information or information from our workbook. Everyone helped work on the needs assessment which was really nice and productive.

Good Earth Farm

On Thursday our class went to Good Earth farm and met Jeff and his daughter Ruth. Good Earth farm is a non-profit organization and their goals are to provide healthy food to those who most need it and to provide a place for education and retreat for others. The farm is largely up-kept by volunteer support. Many groups of all ages come to volunteer and learn about agriculture and animals at the farm. The farm is funded by a variety of sources including Jeff and his wife, grants, and donations. For example, there is a donation station at the Athens farmers market.

At first we saw the chickens, and talked about using their eggs. We then saw the cows and sheep. The cows are grass fed and raw milk is often consumed by visitors, but not sold. The sheep help keep the pasture healthy, and their wool is used. Then we saw the garden which was really large and nicely organized. The farm uses compost and cover crops to increase the nutrition of the soil. The food is given to food pantries and individuals who come to the farm to eat. The food that is leftover is canned and distributed as well. There isn't a specific need for a nutrition professional, but i think it is important for a nutrition professional to know where their food is coming from and to help educate others. Jeff is very knowledgeable about gardening and farming practices, and i definitely learned a lot from our visit.

WIC

Today Melissa Alfano, an RD from the Athens and Perry County WIC offices, came to talk with our class. She actually got her undergraduate and masters degree from OU. She told us about WIC and her personal experiences as a dietitian. WIC stands for Women, Infants, and Children and it is a federal program under the USDA. WIC provides Federal grants to States for supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, and to infants and children up to age five who are found to be at nutritional risk. It is funded completely by the federal government, but changes can be made a the state level. In order to be eligible, participants have to be 185% of the US poverty line or have a medicaid card. To be a part of an Ohio WIC program, you must be a resident of Ohio. All of the 88 counties in Ohio have an affiliation with WIC. WIC's mission is to safeguard the health of low-income women, infants, and children up to age 5 who are at nutrition risk by providing nutritious foods to supplement diets, information on healthy eating, and referrals to health care.


WIC provides nutrition education to clients as well, and there is a need to nutrition professionals. RDs specifically evaluate high risk clients and provide the appropriate care and nutrition education. Every two years the Athens and Perry county WIC are evaluated at the state level. Research is also done at the federal level to determine the federal budget for the WIC program. 


At my field experience I actually spent some time working at the WIC in Zanesville, Ohio. It was a great experience to work with the community, and be part of a different type of nutrition care than I was used to in the hospital.

Compost Facility and Ecohouse

On Thursday our class went to the compost facility and Ecohouse where we met Annie, who took us through the sites. She works for the Ohio University Office of Sustainability. OU uses an in-vessel composter system that is funded mostly by a $350,000 grant from the Division of Recycling and Litter Prevention within the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. They also received $35,105 from the Department of Developments' Energy Loan Fund for the solar array. The remaining funding is from the OU departments Facilities Management and Auxillaries. Food waste from central foods and shively dining hall is taken to the compost facility in large trash cans without plastic bags. The bins are washed out after each use. The compost facility is currently under construction to expand the area. The compost is used for intramural athletic fields, gardens for plant biology students, and the ecohouse community garden currently.

Annie then took us to the ecohouse where she showed us the outside of the house. There are community gardens, a compost area, water collection jugs, solar panels for electricity, clothes drying lines, and panels for generating heat. These are just some of the sustainable living features. Three students pass an application process every year to live in the house. It is a great opportunity to create a sustainable project or live in a sustainable environment.

OSU Extension

On Tuesday our class went to the Athens County Health Department and heard from Brittany and Joyce. Brittany is the 4H program assistant and she spoke about the 4H program as well as her internship at Disney. Brittney talked about the history of 4H which used to be for only farm children, but has broadened into a program for youth development. 4H gives the children a hands on learning experience, and there are many different avenues available. The 4 Hs stand for head, hand, health, and heart. The program is funded by county commissioners, membership fees, fundraising, and OSU benefits. I was surprised at how many activities are available through the 4H program like agriculture, sewing, and photography. Children are able to interact with each other while partaking in fun educational programs and events.

Joyce spoke more about the OSU extension history and events. Their mission is engaging people to strengthen their lives and communities through research-based educational programming. There are four program areas including agriculture and natural resources, community development, 4-H youth development, and family and consumer science. She talked mostly about the family and consumer sciences area that focuses on healthy families, healthy relationships, and healthy finances. We did an activity about managing finances, which helped demonstrate that small purchases every day can add up over time. She also gave us advice on internships and job opportunities through the health department and OSU extension. There is a role for nutrition professionals in extension that i hadn't previously heard about.

Student Expo and WellWorks

On Thursday I presented my poster at the student expo. My poster was titled Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire for Athletic Training Students. It was a great experience presenting for the first time at the expo. Remi and I had food models and sports equipment by our posters, and it brought more people to our posters. Many of the AT students who took the survey stopped by to see how the study turned out. A lot of classmates came as well which was nice. I had a chance to walk around and look at other posters as well.

During the second half of class Heidi Anderson from WellWorks came in and talked about her community nutrition and public health experience. I didn't make it to her presentation because I stayed at the expo. However, Heidi is the education and special events coordinator. She is an RD and has a masters in public health. WellWorks mission is to be the highest quality wellness program for our customers and to combine academic and experiential learning for our students. Their vision is WellWorks will be a regionally prominent wellness program that offers a continuum of lifestyle services to impact the health behaviors and wellness culture of our community. I wish I could have heard more of Heidi's personal story and her public health experience.

Meijer Healthy Living

Today Janine Faber, a Meijer Healthy Living Adviser came in to talk with us. She is a dietitian and also has a masters in health promotion and education. She shared her past experience in the nutrition field and how she came to work at Meijer. She gave us a lot of good advice on how to gain experience and sell yourself for a job. She is the dietitian who is in charge of managing Central and Southern Ohio and Louisville and Lexington in Kentucky. The goal of the Meijer Healthy Living program is to increase sales and promote customer loyalty by creating and communicating healthy solutions and product knowledge to shoppers. They hold many community events and in store events, but also make media appearances and publications. These events are funded by sponsorship of companies. Companies may ask them to sponsor a certain product as long as it is nutritious, and then sponsor an event. She also discussed the NuVal scoring method which was really interesting.

There are five dietitians across the midwest who work in the Healthy Living program. I was amazed at all of they events and activities they partake in. They plan programs together and help each other out, but also receive program ideas from corporations, customers, and Meijer management. The programs are monitored and evaluated by participants after each event, but also by Meijer upper management. Events are constantly evolving and becoming better as time goes on. This is a really interesting job for dietitians, and it definitely opened my eyes to another job possibility.

My group also planted all of our plants in our garden, after doing research. The garden looks really nice, and now we just need to keep an eye on things and water the plants. Our group has also been steadily working on our assessment workbook, which is coming along.

Ohio Board of Dietetics

Today we were set to have a Karen, the executive director from the Ohio Board of Dietetics, come in to talk with us. Unfortunately she couldn't make it, but Dr. Holben spoke about the agency instead. He had a term on the the OBD, so we were able to hear information about the agency from his first hand experience. The Ohio Board of Dietetics is a government agency that has is own state licensure laws for dietetic professionals in the state of Ohio. Their mission is to effectively protect the public by regulating the practice of dietetics through licensure, and by fairly and consistently enforcing the laws and rules governing nutritional practices.

The program is funded completely by licensure fees. These fees are about $100 a year, and there are about 3,000 members. Registered dietitians play a large role in the Ohio Board of Dietetics because the executive director must be an RD. There are also five dietitian members and a dietetics educator on the Board. All members who are licensed in the state of Ohio must follow all of the regulations to protect the public. For example, RDs must take part in continuing education credits, jurisprudence events, and ethical CPEs. Members are evaluated on their adherence to these regulations, and could lose their licenses if they do not adhere to the guidelines. It was interesting to hear about the board. Each state has different licensure in dietetics. Ohio actually has the most regulations of all of the states. This will definitely help me when i am at the point in my career when I need to have state licensure to practice dietetics.

My group also met the second half of class and we talked about the relevant research of the plants we are planting in our garden for the DASH diet. We are all meeting on Monday morning to work in the garden. We are also all working on the assessment workbook, and making good progress.

WellWorks

Today Fancie Astrom, the registered dietitian from WellWorks came to talk to our class. WellWorks is a wellness program, primarily for OU faculty and staff. However, they also have memberships and programs for community members, graduate students, and corporations. Undergraduate students can also come in for nutrition counseling and participate in programs without a membership. WellWorks is funded by university wellness funds and membership fees. Their mission is to help individuals reach their optimal health for improvement of their health status. They are more focused on a wellness model instead of a medical model. They have many programs on site and around the community. At the WellWorks facility they have a fitness center, massage therapist, personal trainers, and nutrition counseling. The nutrition counseling is done by registered dietitians onsite. There is also a major need for volunteers to help with events and programs. They participate in risk reduction programs, work-site wellness, Heartworks, Healthy Ohio, pulmonary rehab, and medical screening tests such as cholesterol, blood pressure, anthropometrics, and body fat.These are just some of the many programs that WellWorks has to offer.

The programs are developed by identifying the needs of the OU community along with requests from individual departments and programs. The needs of corporate members and the university as a whole are also taken into account. All of the nutrition information given is supported by current and reviewed literature. WellWorks is an amazing facility that plays an active part in the community, and I was really interested in hearing about all of the programs they offer.

Agencies

Today in class we each presented our assigned nutrition related agency. I learned about a lot of programs that I have never heard of previously. My specific agency was the Summer Food Service Program which is used when children are on summer vacation and they cannot access the free school lunch or snack programs. It was interesting to hear about everyone's project. I am definitely going to print out everyone's worksheet so that I will have a reference in the future. I was also surprised to hear that Canada does not have any of these programs, even though they have free health care. We spend billions of dollars in the US to develop these various programs which is great.

Jobs and Family Services Speaker

Today Nick from Athens County Jobs and Family Services came to talk to us about his job and more specifically the food assistance programs. He spoke about the supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) as well as some other options his workplace offers such as: medicaid, adult education, childcare, and job training. He mentioned that their funds are from the Federal and State government. The purpose and mission of his workplace is to help families and individuals with finding work as well as providing them with needs to live a healthier life. There are many programs that are available, however there are certain requirements that are needed to be eligible. For example, cash assistance can only be given to individuals with children. Also, there are certain guidelines that must be followed along with the specific program.

Job and Family Services receives orders from the State and Federal government. They are monitored and evaluated by the State government, which then relays the information to the Federal government. Monitoring and evaluation is important to make sure that no one is abusing the benefits and to check for errors in the system. Changes can then be made based on need. For example, more money could be allotted to a certain program based on word from the Federal government. Nick was also asked about the role of the nutrition professional in his workplace. I was interested to hear that they do not currently have a registered dietitian on staff. He said that they are provided with nutritional materials from the state which are passed on to the clients. I think they could benefit from an RD on staff, and there is a place for a nutrition professional in this field.

Nutrition Policy Continued and Farmers Markets

Today in class we finished up our lecture on nutrition policy, and we watched a video about how a bill becomes a law. The video helped explain the process of passing a law, and how difficult it can be. This led to our discussion of nutrition programs. We talked about some of the programs available through the USDA and Department of Health and Human Services. This will lead into our group discussion of nutrition programs next week.

We then watched a video about a new farmers market in Orangeburg, South Carolina. This town is known as a food desert because many residents are far away from fresh produce. Many of the individuals living here have nutrition related health problems. A farmers market was initiated outside of a health clinic to help promote fresh fruits and vegetables intake. The patients could actually receive coupons from their doctors for the farmers market which was a good incentive. This video described the process of starting, continuing, and changing the farmers market. They also discussed the needs assessment for the market, and this helped give me a better perspective of the process. Watching this movie will help me with writing my own needs assessment in this class for adults with hypertension on the DASH diet.

Health & Nutrition Policy

Today in class we started out with an activity where we had to write something on the chalkboard about food security. It was interesting to see how everyone in the class thought about the term, or what they associated food security with. The next topic that we started was Health and Nutrition Policy. We talked about health objectives such as the Healthy People 2020 and Dietary Guidelines for Americans, as well as guidance systems such as MyPlate. It was interesting to learn about how these guidelines are made and what processes they need to go through to be passed and continued.

I learned about the steps involved in policy making including: defining the problem/setting agenda; formulating alternatives; policy adoption; policy implementation; policy evaluation; and policy termination. We specifically compared this to the WIC program, which gave me a real world perspective. We also talked about the various surveys used to gather nutrition data, one of which being NHANES. They use a multiple pass method when interviewing the public about what they eat, so that all the foods consumed can be recorded.

I also learned a few fun facts that I didn't know before. I did not know that the SNAP program has no guidelines or measures on the specific food that users are buying. Therefore, unhealthy foods could be purchased with the supplemental money. There is however, extra money given to those who purchase healthy foods with their SNAP card. This is a good incentive to eat healthier, and a nice change.

Food Insecurity and Topic Discussion

Today in class we continued our discussion of food insecurity. We talked about the Guide to Measuring Household Food Security, Revised 2000 (Bickel et al.), which is a Canadian health survey used to indicate food security status. This questionnaire has 18 indicators for determining food security status and it only takes four minutes to administer. The survey is done once a year in December. We actually went through and took the survey and discussed the questions. The question is based on a point scale from 0-18: where 0 is on the food secure side and 18 on the severely food insecure side. I ended up with 0 total points meaning I am food secure. This survey really made me think of all the families that struggle with feeding themselves and their children. I am grateful that I have always been able to to buy food. We also learned about some of the coping strategies, risk factors, and consequences involved in food insecurity. This was very eye opening, and I am definitely looking forward to researching my agency that may help food insecure households.

Today we also were told our agency topic and group topic. The agency I will be researching is the Summer Food Service Program, which I am really excited about. My group is doing a needs assessment and garden plot for Adults with Hypertension, specifically using the DASH diet. We met as a group and discussed possible crops to plant including: green beans, summer squash, spinach, zucchini, broccoli, beets, and flax. The DASH diet is high in Calcium, Potassium, Magnesium, and fiber as well as low in fat and salt. We tried to pick vegetables that followed these guidelines and that will grow well in the Spring.

Community Garden!

Today was our first trip to the community garden on campus. We met Maghan Lundsford, the interim Fitness Center Coordinator at WellWorks. She showed us to our plot and answered questions. She explained where to find the supplies, water, compost, and tools. She was very friendly and helpful, especially with suggesting possible crops that would grow well in the spring, in our ten week allotted time. She said that a plot of land for the entire summer is only $25! She said that she lived in an apartment without a yard, so the community garden was a great option for her. I thought this was a great deal, and I would love to have my own garden!

All of the groups picked their garden plots, and my group started working on our plot right away. We turned over the soil, and removed some weeds. My group discussed possible populations for our project as well. We are all really excited to start planting!

Gardening in this class will give me experience for my own garden one day. Gardening is an inexpensive way to grow your own fruits and vegetables, and I may suggest it to some of my patients in the future. For example, gardening can cut down the food costs, and help save money for families who may or may not be food insecure.

Community Needs Assessment

Today was my second day of class, and I was assigned into my gardening group, group C. We talked about the needs assessment project and what it entailed. We defined needs assessment as well as the seven steps that are involved in the process. My group is going to meet early next week to brainstorm our top three populations of interest for our project.

We also learned about food insecurity and watched a clip from the Erin Brockovich movie. We had a class discussion about how Julia Robert's character acted in the movie, and what signs of food insecurity we could spot. It was interesting to notice how food insecure families may live on a daily basis.

We then watched a 60 minutes segment on free food lines in Ohio. This segment was very eye opening and sad. Many families were interviewed, and it showed me how common food insecurity is in Ohio and what measures are taken to survive by many families.

First Day of Community Nutrition

Today I had my first class of nutrition in the community. We discussed the definition of nutrition as well as the definition of community nutrition. I think this class is going to be a great learning experience and I hope to improve my gardening skills and knowledge of community nutrition as a whole. We discussed some of the assignments we will be doing this quarter and I am interested in learning how to live on a budget, create food menus on a budget, and create menus for school systems. I also hope to learn more about the many areas of community nutrition. I have had some experience with gardening and WIC, but I know there are many more areas to study. Community nutrition focuses on improving the health, well-being, and nutrition of individuals within a community. Since the number of communities is vast, there is much to learn within this study of nutrition. I am excited to learn about different types of communities this quarter, and how nutrition differs within each community.